The University of New Orleans athletic program will assume Division I Independent status as of June 30 and begin the process of re-classifying into Division III after voluntarily withdrawing from the Sun Belt Conference in January.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneThe successfull University of New Orleans baseball program will be forced to transition to Division III due to budget issues.Amy Champion, the Privateers’ interim athletic director and women’s basketball coach, said the school is in “a waiting period” right now, as it waits for the NCAA membership committee to meet in July. From there, Champion said the timetable is from two to as many as four years to complete the switch to Division III.

“It’s been public knowledge this is the move we’re going to make, basically for the whole academic year, ” Champion said. “There are a number of institutions who are dropping programs and dropping departments. We’re very fortunate to continue athletics at UNO. It’s a tough economic world right now.”

The pending move, which arose as a result of a $1.3 million budget shortfall within the athletic program, a student vote against increasing athletic fees and a lack of fund-raising effort, has caused tension among UNO’s nine athletic teams. Baseball coach Bruce Peddie thinks both he and his players were deceived throughout the administration’s process of making the decision to ultimately leave Division I.

“I feel like I was misled, and I felt like our kids were misled throughout the whole process, ” Peddie said. “I would have told every player to leave, and I would have left myself.”

Peddie is wrapping up his first year as coach at UNO after spending three years as the Privateers’ hitting coach, and he said he signed his three-year contract before this season because he wanted to lead a Division I program.

“Given the legacy of this program, I’m going to keep it Division I as long as I can, ” Peddie said. “I was hired under the impression that I was a Division I coach ... I’ve certainly showed a commitment to these players by sticking through this with them.”

The Privateers will lose 12 seniors, leaving Peddie with 23 players from this season’s team. He said recruiting high-quality athletes will be increasingly challenging, as Division III standards do not allow athletic scholarships to be awarded to incoming students. Current UNO athletes will be allowed to keep their scholarships through their senior seasons.

“There are a lot of kids who want to stay close to home and earn TOPS, so we want to get the best TOPS kids we can get, ” Peddie said. “Then we have to use our contacts with junior college kids who have stepped up and say, ’Hey, we’ve got a great situation as far as weather and a beautiful stadium here, and you can get a great education and play as tough a Division I schedule as anybody out there.’”

UNO men’s and women’s tennis coach Burzis Kanga said he has experienced loyalty from the majority of his players. He said his entire men’s team will remain intact next season, while two women are departing.

“It was surprising to a number of us when we heard the Division III rumor, but you have to embrace it now, ” Kanga said. “If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to stay.”

Convincing current UNO athletes to stay is no small task, however, as men’s basketball coach Joe Pasternack can attest. He has already lost five players — point guard Carl Blair, guard Charles Carmouche, forward Quincy Diggs, guard Devin McDonald and forward Johann Mpondo, and Pasternack said the only player returning from the 2009-10 team is center Jaroslav Tyrna.

“Our players are transferring. They signed up to be in the Sun Belt Conference, ” Pasternack said. “They have the ability to be eligible immediately.”

But Pasternack said he is committed to staying at UNO.

“I’ve got a year left on my contract, and UNO is where my focus is right now, ” he said.

Champion said it appears she will retain her position as women’s basketball coach, and she said her talks with Chancellor Tim Ryan indicate she will be appointed athletic director.

“In most Division III institutions, you’ll find most of the staff and employees wear multiple hats, ” Champion said. “You’ll see that with us, coaches and athletic directors with dual duties ... We’ve agreed I’m here for the long term and would like to see this program make this transition.”

Kanga said the university will reap benefits from the move amid the difficulties of adapting.

“The transition in time will be interesting because it will be challenging but also fulfilling, ” Kanga said. “You will get student-athletes who want to play for the love of the game ... not to say all Division I athletes don’t compete for that reason.”

Kanga said being a Division III school could also open doors for athletes who may not have the opportunity to compete on a Division I level.

“If we go to Division III, the player who might have tried out for the club team at Tulane could think, ’I can play varsity tennis at UNO and be a part of the NCAA. They’re in Division III, but so what?’” Kanga said.

Champion said a possible conference affiliation for the Privateers is the American Southwest Conference, based out of Dallas. Twelve of the conference’s 15 schools are in Texas.

Champion said the program’s transition will also include the addition of three sports by 2011 — women’s soccer, women’s golf and football.

She said UNO’s club football team “will be one of our countable sports” in fall 2011.

“I attended homecoming last year, and there were over 3,500 people sitting in the stands, ” Champion said. “Club football is a great entity at every institution. Once they fall under Division III status, it will continue to enhance the overall student welfare.”

Champion said while the cost factor of maintaining a football team cannot be denied, she hopes the potential benefit of higher attendance figures will put a positive spin among the negativity swirling around the UNO athletic program.

“Football can be very productive in the revenue column as far as selling tickets, generating a lot of interest and getting people in the stands, ” Champion said. “We’re brainstorming marketing and fund-raising strategies to supplement those costs within our budget as we begin in 2011.”

Champion said an idea is in the works for a student ticket package that would cover most, if not all the expense, as she acknowledged the impending battle UNO administration will have to fight for attendance once the departure from Division I is sealed.

“There will be days where it will be very difficult to sell regular season tickets in every single sport when we have several institutions around us who have been established for quite some time, ” Champion said.

Kanga said even with UNO on a smaller athletic stage, the Privateers are still capable of achieving national recognition.

“Even though we’d be competing at a Division III level, who’s to say we won’t be competing for a national championship one day?” Kanga said. “It takes time (to make adjustments). It doesn’t happen overnight.”